USGS maps don’t stop at Earth. We’ve charted Mercury, volcanoes and all! 🌋🪐 In 2016, USGS collaborated with NASA, Arizona State University, Carnegie Institution for Science, and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory to produce the first high-resolution topographic map of Mercury. The map captures the planet’s craters, volcanoes, and tectonic features in remarkable detail. To make this possible, USGS scientists developed advanced software and innovative techniques to process m

BepiColombo time lapse shows Mercury surface in unparalleled detail 🌑 The European Space Agency have released a time lapse of all the images from BepiColombo's recent Mercury flyby, its last before it starts orbiting the solar system’s innermost world in late 2026. Since launching in 2018, the joint European-Japanese BepiColombo spacecraft has flown by Mercury six times, using each successive approach to reduce its speed and adjust its flight path to make it easier to get into orbit. While the